TELF AG explores the main features of iron-air batteries
The role of batteries in the energy transition
The combinations of raw materials for the creation of new types of batteries to be used in the most varied sectors and fields are potentially infinite and will most likely mark the technological advancement of humanity for many decades to come. In a historical phase characterized by a great emphasis on environmental issues and objectives linked to decarbonization and climate neutrality, knowing how to propose efficient, innovative batteries capable of promoting the energy transition of nations becomes a competitive advantage that is by no means negligible. In recent years, we have heard of numerous storage systems based on different raw materials, such as sodium, zinc, iron, manganese, and many others. Many of these are still in an experimental phase, while others are already being successfully used alongside the most widespread type of battery, i.e. the one based on the use of lithium.
However, when there is a need to create more ambitious batteries capable of powering entire plants (or energy storage systems), the best solutions to make them could be based on different raw materials, which are much more readily available on the planet. One of the most interesting technological developments, from this point of view, has to do with iron-air batteries, helpful above all for storing renewable energy. The innovation came from Form Energy and was conceived by an MIT materials scientist, Yet-Ming Chiang, and Mateo Jaramillo, former vice president of Tesla. The device would be able to store energy for four days (at least for now), and the operation on which it is based is apparently simple: these batteries use the energy released by the rusting process of the iron, capturing it and transforming it into electric current, to then recharge and reverse the reaction, rusting the iron again and returning it to its metallic form.
The continuous evolution of batteries
The basic idea is, therefore, to enhance the standard process that leads to the formation of rust, profitably using the electron that is exchanged with an oxygen molecule during rusting (that electron usually is wasted). To improve the duration of this reaction, bringing it to the maximum, a suitably enriched iron was used, in particular to enhance its reversibility. It is not the first time rust has been studied as a potential ally for creating innovative and efficient batteries. In the 1960s, NASA experimented with rust-based storage systems, but the final results did not convince the experts (mainly due to their heaviness). Nowadays, this same material could carve out a notable role in strengthening energy storage systems, making its own contribution to advancing the energy transition.
Iron-air battery technology has already been appreciated, particularly in the United States, where it can already count on a production plant for these iron-air batteries in Weirton, West Virginia, in a location historically linked to the production of iron. Form Energy (which has already attracted the interest of figures of Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, and Richard Branson) has also signed agreements to construct various production plants, each with an estimated power of 10 megawatts.
In the global race to create energy storage systems capable of ensuring prolonged conservation capacity, even for days and weeks, in order to overcome the problem of the intermittency of renewable energy sources, the definitive implementation of iron-air batteries (and their future, foreseeable improvements) could be able to contribute in a relevant way to the success of the global ecological conversion, solving one of the major issues linked to new clean energies.
